Secrets
by monogatari ai
Summary: Secrets can eat away at our souls and destroy us. Three teenagers who only know that adults aren't to be trusted have a power they cannot control. But what if some secrets aren't meant to be told? AU Post GoF
1. What wasn't known

Hello people. Alright, this story is originally a story by **outkast angel** but now it has been handed over to me to continue. This first chapter is the chapter that was posted under her account, seeing as it would be confusing for me to post the second chapter simply because I wrote that chapter. Enjoy and review please.

Also, characters' personalities and some events mentioned are different than what was in the book. Therefore, it is an **AU** fic.

* * *

It was a dark night. The sky had no stars and no moon. The streetlights had all mysteriously gone out, but no one was awake enough to notice or care. The seemingly never ending darkness of Little Whinghing, Surrey, appeared to be on mute, as there was no sound. The wind wasn't blowing, no dogs were howling at the moon, clocks weren't ticking, and had anyone been awake to listen carefully enough, they would have noticed that there was no sound of people breathing, no one was snoring. It was as though the whole world had been put on pause. 

At the children's play park, a teenage boy sat on a swing, gently rocking back and forth, his arm curled around the chain. He was thin, almost alarmingly so, with messy black hair and bright green eyes that seemed to glow in the pitch black darkness. His name was Harry Potter. He was staring straight ahead, at nothing in particular, brooding over recent events and planning his -their- next move.

All his life, Harry had had secrets. When he had been a child, other than sleeping in a cupboard, it was the fact that he was 'special.' He had known, of course. How could he not, when all these odd things happened around him? He'd placed the blame on him being magic, and was so desperate to be different, to have everything his relatives said about him be a lie, that he'd even attempted to use his magic consciously. It had worked, too. He was a pro at changing colors wandlessly, and he could even control fire to some extent. But that had been as far as he'd gotten before he'd found out about Hogwarts.

Hogwarts had given him even more secrets. After the troll incident, himself, Ron and Hermione had become nearly inseparable. Not because of what they'd been through, but because of what they'd found out.

While Harry could control, and even create, fire, Ron could freeze things. And Hermione could create a little tornado in her hand. They'd never told anyone before, and had decided to keep it that way.

This control they seemed to have over certain elements helped a lot in their 'adventures.' Of course, the adults (and everyone else), even Dumbledore, had always been given the edited version of them.

First year, Harry had used his fire to distract the troll and Hermione had made up a story about him shoving his wand up the troll's nose. When they met Fluffy, Ron had used his ice to freeze the hellhound's feet to the floor for a few seconds so it wouldn't eat them. With the Devil's Snare, Harry had used his fire. Hermione had used her wind to get the key they needed, so they didn't have to waste time on the broom sticks.

Second year, Harry had used his fire to blow up Crabbe's cauldron while Hermione stole the ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion and to drive away some of the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest. Ron had used his ice to form a shield-like substance when Lockhart attempted to Obliviate him (he'd lied about the wand backfiring). Hermione had used her wind to snatch a girl's compact mirror to look around corners.

Third year they had used their abilities too many times to count. Ron would use his ice to drive away the dementors (this worked to some extent, though they weren't sure why), Hermione used her wind to make the dementors off balance, and to help Buckbeak fly easier. And Harry used his fire to create numerous distractions while the trio were up to no good.

Fourth year they hadn't used their abilities much, because of the extra amount of attention Harry had been given, and Ron and Hermione by association. But in the Graveyard something had happened that only the three of them knew about. Harry had done his best to protect Cedric. He'd made fire to surround him, creating a dome around the older boy. He'd attempted to light Wormtail on fire. He'd even gone so far as to make a deal with the little rat, saying that he'd do whatever he wanted as long as Cedric was set free. Voldemort had put the excessive use of fire down to accidental magic. But it didn't really matter, because Cedric had still been killed, and it was all his, Harry's, fault.

A small patch of grass suddenly caught on fire, a tiny bit of light in a sea of darkness. Harry scowled at the sudden light, and it abruptly went out.

Sighing, the raven haired teen stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets, and started walking back to his relatives house.

Unnoticed by anyone, the wind started to blow, snoring became audible, and clocks once again started to tick.

**An hour later **

Harry sat at his desk, staring at the letters that were scattered about. They were from Ron and Hermione. He'd been looking for some kind of code, because he knew they wouldn't keep him in the dark like this. They told each other everything. And now he'd finally figured it out. The hidden message from Ron said: 'Sorry. The Order is reading our letters before they're sent out.' Hermione's said: 'Haven't figured out much. We're working on it.'

Sighing in frustration, Harry ran a hand through his already messy hair.

What the bloody hell was the Order?

**Meanwhile **

Remus Lupin sighed as he walked down the dark hallway. An Order meeting had just finished and it was three in the morning. They hadn't found anything out yet, of course. Voldemort hadn't had any meetings since two weeks previous. All they knew was that he wanted a Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. They'd stayed up o late coming up with different ways to protect without the Ministry finding out and interfering. The hadn't come up with much though.

"We should tell them."

The whisper wouldn't have been audible to any normal human, but with his heightened senses, it caught Remus' attention. The conversation seemed to be coming from Ron's room. Frowning and wondering what Ron and Hermione (as it had obviously been Hermione's voice that had spoken, and it was Ron's room) were doing up so late, Remus crept closer to the door and listened.

"We can't," Ron's voice was harsh and commanding. There was a ruffling of papers.

"Ron," Hermione sounded dead serious. "If this might happen to us-"

"It won't."

"But if it does-"

"Hermione, it _won't_."

There was silence for a few seconds. Remus guessed that the two were having a stare down.

"Ron," Hermione sounded exasperated, stressed, and slightly desperate. "This is- We've never done anything like this before. We've done a lot, yes. Things most people couldn't do. But if there's a chance of this happening, if we can't control it, we need to tell someone."

"They'll stick us in St. Mungo's or we'll become lab rats," Ron deadpanned.

"The Order wouldn't-"

"The Order needs weapons," Ron cut Hermione off.

Remus' frown deepened and he pressed his ear harder against the door. There were a few long moments of silence before someone took a deep breath and sighed.

"How have we survived this long, Hermione?" Ron asked softly. "What's been our motto, our rule?"

Hermione mumbled something so softly even Remus didn't catch what she'd said.

"Sorry, what?" Ron said in a monotone.

"Adults are the enemy." Hermione sounded as though she'd memorized this. Her voice lacked any and all emotion. "They will use us to get what they want and then throw us away. They will analyze and rationalize us and treat us as either weapons of mass destruction or little kids. Adults are not to be trusted. Adults are the enemy."

"Exactly," Ron said. "We need to remember that. And besides, we need Harry's input before we make such a big decision."

"Harry doesn't know the risks of keeping it secret." The bushy haired girl sounded as though she knew she'd lost the argument, but was determined to make her point. "If this gets too much, if we can't control it, people will die Ron. So many people. All because we were too scared to tell a secret to a few people."

"The Order is _not_ a few people," Ron said harshly. "And we'll practice more. We can do this Hermione. We've gotten through everything in the past. We'll get through it this time too. We always do."

"What if we can't?" The girl sounded on the verge of tears.

"We will." There was a pause. "Go to sleep Hermione. We're cleaning again tomorrow."

Remus quickly walked away from the door, storing the conversation away to be analyzed at a later date.

**Three weeks later **

The room was dark but not unwelcoming. Hermione Granger sat on one of the beds while Harry sat on another and Ron Weasley sat straddling a chair. They were silent for a few moments, each reveling in the fact that they were all there again, that their group was complete. It was Harry who broke the silence.

"So what have we found out?"

"Not much," Hermione sighed, rubbing her temples. "We know that the Order of the Phoenix is dedicated to stopping You-Know-Who. We've seen about twenty five members and we know that there's more than that. At least five of the members we know of are spies in the Ministry. We know that the Order is trying to protect something in the Department of Mysteries, but we don't know what it is or what even goes on in the Department. We know that You Know Who is after whatever it is and that if he gets it, it won't be good."

"So what do we do?" Ron broke the silence after a long while.

"It's obvious the Order is planning on keeping us in the dark about everything," Harry said, fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt. "We only know as much as we do about everything because of the Extendable Ears."

"What are you planning?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I think we should start recruiting," Harry said in a hard voice.

"Fred and George will definitely agree," Ron said without missing a beat, as though the idea of building an army of under aged Wizards was a normal idea. "Ginny probably will too. If we can convince Gryffindor that you aren't bonkers I bet most of them will agree as well."

"I suppose I should draw up a lesson plan," Hermione sighed. "Ron will have to talk to the others. Harry, you keep trying to find out any information you can about what You Know Who is up to."

"Right," The boys nodded their agreement.

"Okay, before this meeting is over, Ron and I have something to tell you Harry," Hermione said seriously. Before Harry could even open his mouth to say a smart ass remark, she continued. "It's about our abilities. We found a book in the Black Library that has records of people... like us. It's... it's really bad Harry.

"People with fire ability sometimes spontaneously self combust or set things -people- on fire by accident. People with ice sometimes freeze to death in their sleep or accidentally freeze other people to death. People with wind sometimes create tornados, killing themselves and others. People with water have been found drowned along with other people who'd been in the same room as them." Hermione stared at the green eyed boy for a long while before continuing. "If our powers get out of control, if we slip up even the tiniest bit, people will die. _We_ might die." She took a deep breath. "I think we should tell the Order about us."

"Absolutely not," Harry said immediately, with a hint of finality in his tone. "We can deal with this on our own. We'll double our practice sessions, we'll work harder. But we will _not_ tell anyone about this. Adults are not to be trusted."

Hermione stared hard at the wood floor and slowly nodded. Harry gave a curt nod and stood up.

"Hermione, start on those lesson plans. Ron, talk to the Twins and Ginny," Harry said as he stretched. "I'll see if I can get any more information out of Sirius. Then I'll start making a list of who we can trust."

The three nodded at each other and went their separate ways.

**One week later **

Remus glanced at Sirius, who was reading a Quidditch magazine while lounging on the sofa. The werewolf sighed.

"Have you noticed anything... unusual about the kids lately?" Remus asked.

Sirius glanced at him curiously before turning the page in the magazine.

"Nothing more so than usual," Sirius said. "Harry was trying to get information out of me about a week ago, but that's normal. They want to know what's going on. Why?"

Remus bit his lip before telling Sirius about the conversation he'd overheard between Ron and Hermione nearly a month ago. Sirius had put down the magazine and was sitting up, staring at him intently. When Remus finished, the Animagus ran a hand through his hair before letting out a long breath.

"That sounds..." He paused, searching for the right word. "Dangerous."

Remus nodded his agreement and waited for his friend to go on.

"I think that we should wait to tell Dumbledore," Sirius said after an incredulously long silence. "They obviously don't want anyone to know about this, whatever 'this' is, and they don't seem like they'll be trusting any of us any time soon. If it becomes dangerous, or there's a chance of someone getting hurt, I think they'll come to us about it for help. And... whatever this thing is, it sounds like it could really help in some dangerous situations, but only if it's kept secret. And besides, some secrets are meant to be kept."

The two stared at each other for a long while before Remus slowly nodded his agreement after thinking over Sirius' words. Sirius grinned and lay back down on the couch, grabbing his magazine as he did so.

"Besides, it's not as though we won't be able to keep an eye on them at Hogwarts," He said lazily. "Am I right, _Professor_?"

* * *

Yes, and that's it. Please review.

Oh yes. I forgot.

**I own nothing** except perhaps any original ideas of mine that may appear after this chapter.


	2. Recruitment

Here it is…chapter 2!

* * *

It was hard not to be frustrated.

Ginny Weasley scowled slightly as she glanced over at the other end of the room, where her brother, Hermione and Harry were discussing something in low tones. There was obviously something up with them, but despite her many various ideas, she could not come up with a plausible explanation as to what they could be planning.

It was not very likely that they were coming up with a way to listen into Order meetings, because if they were, then they would have gotten Fred and George into their conversations seeing as Fred and George were the only non-Order habitants of the house who could use magic.

Speaking of which…

Ginny watched amused as her mother marched over to where Fred and George had been trying to sneak close enough to listen to the trio's conversation, and dragged them off by the ear, muttering about getting ideas on torturing their younger brother with pranks.

With a sigh, Ginny went back to cleaning, scowling at the part of the wall that had so much dust gathered that it had begun to look as though it had been originally painted black.

She looked up when she saw a shadow fall over her and she glanced at Hermione, who glancing at a gigantic cobweb with a disgusted expression on her face, "Ginny, can you meet Harry, Ron and I later?"

Ginny tilted her head in confusion. All the secrecy and now this?

She nodded, however, and out of the corner of her eye, saw Fred and George talking in low tones to Ron and Harry. No doubt they were getting the same missive.

-** - Five hours later - - **

Fred and George Weasley had been trying to find out what their younger brother and his two best friends had been up to for a long time. It had taken a few days to figure out that something was _definitely_ wrong. When Ron was dragged into the library by Hermione and there was no screaming declaring that Hermione was violating his human rights by dragging him there, they had been interested..

When they had snuck in quietly later and had witnessed Ronald Weasley _reading_ a book that looked suspiciously like an encyclopaedia of some sort and was _not_ doodling on the pages, they had grown – well, suspicious.

When Harry Potter had arrived and the three friends had started to disappear for long periods of time as well as whispering to each other quietly at times, Fred and George had taken it beyond merely being suspicious.

It had become a challenge.

A challenge to find out what was going on.

Therefore, the twins were pouting at each other and Ginny as they walked toward the room that Ron and Harry shared.

"Oh, give it a rest you two" Ginny muttered snappishly, "Oh yes, they're telling us what's going on – most likely – so why are you so upset?"

The twins could only pout even more. They had failed to find out by themselves – for once, in the art of sneakiness and such…they had lost. Or rather, they had felt that they had been cheated somehow.

Ginny rolled her eyes at the way her brothers had started pretending to bawl. She raised her hand and knocked on the door three times before turning the doorknob. She glared at her brothers and grabbed both their collars, pulling them into the room behind her.

Ron sat on his bed and snickered as he saw Fred and George being forced into the room by their much shorter younger sister. He shut up, however, when Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Ginny asked smoothly, sitting down on Harry's bed opposite to the three.

Fred and George quickly stopped pretending to cry and jumped onto the bed on either side of Ron with expectant grins on their faces.

"Well, it's like this…" Harry said sounding a bit uncomfortable, "Um…Ron – help here?"

"Uh…Hermione?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Honestly. It's not that hard to say. Basically, we want to start gathering and preparing people adequately against the threat that You-Know-Who provides and we want to know if you want in or not. There, that wasn't so hard was it?"

"So…you're basically trying to build an army that will fight You-know-who?" Ginny asked to ensure that she had heard right.

"Well…yes, I suppose" Hermione said.

"You suppose? It's definitely an army" Ron put in, "So you want in or not?"

It was obvious from the gleams in their eyes of the twins what their answer was.

Ginny knew what her answer would be from the start. Since her first year, her parents had treated her like a porcelain doll that could easily break – especially her mother. This summer, the only thing all of them had been told was that the Order was working on it, or they were not allowed to know – as if they were all children that could not understand or grasp the entirety of what was going on. This – this was her chance to prove that she was _not_ weak, _not_ a child and she would definitely _not_ break.

She nodded, a determined glint in her eyes.

* * *

It was well into the second week of August with only a little over a week left until term started again. On the wooden table in a large room of a desolate house, lay a pile of newspapers stacked up high. As the pictures on these newspapers moved about, a gangly red haired teenager threw the newspaper he was holding down onto the table with a look of disgust on his face.

"I can't believe people believe this stuff" Ron said with a frustrated expression on his face, glaring daggers at the moving picture of a man holding a bowler hat on the front page.

"People believe anything they think is interesting and _could_ be true" Hermione said, dipping her quill in the inkpot, "Why else do you think anybody bothers to read Rita Skeeter's articles? And the rumours at Hogwarts?"

She looked up suddenly, sniffing the air and turned a warning glare on Harry, "Stop it, Harry"

Harry, who had been glaring at the face of Cornelius Fudge as he shook hands pompously with Lucius Malfoy, looked up from the newspaper. The black remains of what had once been the face of Cornelius Fudge fell onto the table. A hole with blackened edges glared up at the three friends from where it lay on the table.

The distinct smell of something burning filled the air and Hermione rolled up the parchment she had been writing on, "I hope you can come up with a good excuse for why the library smells like burning" she told him in a scolding tone of voice.

"Sorry" Harry muttered, still glaring at the newspapers.

"You can't let your emotions get the better of you like that – what if you lose control?" Hermione asked in a frightened whisper, "You know – you know what we read…before" she gulped.

"I know, I know" Harry said irritably, "It's just that – this whole situation makes me angry"

"Maybe we should – "

Hermione was cut off when both of the boys said a resounding 'no' to her. She sighed, looking down, "I know, I know; adults aren't to be trusted" she bit her lip as though trying to decide whether or not to say something.

Before she could decide on it, however, the door to the library slammed open and the trio all snapped their heads to the door. Ginny stood there, her cheeks flushed lightly from running and looking the happiest and most excited they had seen her in this decrepit old house.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked curiously.

"We get to go to Diagon Alley!" Ginny said excitedly, "Well, actually…"

She paused and frowned, a sudden displeased expression crossing her face.

"What'd you mean by the 'well, actually'?" Ron demanded, "Are we going or not?"

"_We_ can…" Ginny started, "But all the adults are arguing about whether…erm…Harry…can go"

"What? They're not letting me go?! That's not fair!" Harry leapt to his feet.

Hermione quickly latched her hand on his arm and yanked him back down to his seat, "Calm down, Harry" she said in a steely tone that had the others in the room wincing, "Maybe they have a good reason why not"

She stated in the same tone, causing the others to suddenly be glad that they were not the adults arguing that Harry be excluded from this activity. Harry glared but took a few deep breaths just as Hermione suggested before sending her a 'There, I'm calm now – happy?' glare.

Ginny took a nervous look at the expressions the older teenagers held, "I'll go and find out what they've decided, alright?"

"That would be very much appreciated" Hermione said, while glaring at Ron who now looked the most likely to run out of the library hexing anyone who dared to keep one of the trio from doing anything together.

After the door closed, Hermione let go of the wrists of the two boys and the anger that both of them had obviously been holding back released itself.

The pile of newspapers burst into flames immediately.

There was a crackling sound as the wooden leg of the table suddenly became encased in ice.

A furious wind started around the room, sending papers and books flying in a chaotic circle.

There would no doubt be quite a while before the library was the same ever again.

**- - half an hour later - - **

Sirius Black stopped in front of the room, looking incredibly perplexed. As far as he knew, the only one who ever ventured into the library was Hermione or one of her friends when they came looking for her, so why was the library in such a mess? From what he knew of Hermione from Harry's letters, she would never think of scattering books and papers everywhere?

He wondered if Harry knew and was about to head upstairs to the room that Harry and Ron shared when he stopped in his tracks.

Then he shuddered for a long moment when he remembered how angry his godson had been that he had been kept out of the expedition to Diagon Alley.

_He_ would have been angry too if his friends were allowed to go and he was forced to stay in a decrepit, dark and dank

He sighed, looking back at the library and with a resigned look, began to head back downstairs to the kitchen, hoping to find some hidden alcohol _somewhere_ in there, courtesy of Mundungus Fletcher.

While he was rummaging through the kitchen, he did not notice a ripple in the air behind him and the muffled sound of footsteps that he would have heard had he not been muttering irritably to himself.

_Creak_

The ripple in the air stopped suddenly, as though frozen suddenly.

Sirius turned around before shaking his head, "That damn house-elf…oi, firewhiskey!" he said cheerfully as he pulled out the hidden bottle of alcohol, "Yes!"

The front door to Number twelve Grimmauld Place opened with the smallest of creaks before closing itself once more.

If any of the neighbours were looking, they would have seen a thin, black haired boy suddenly appear out of nowhere in the street, holding a strange stick out before suddenly disappearing again.

However, none of the neighbours looked.

And nobody was aware that the black haired boy was even out of the house he had just come from.

* * *

Please review; make me happy and motivate me to write more.


	3. In Diagon Alley

Hello people. Sorry it's been so long. I've just had no time to write, and even then, this chapter was so rushed that it…kinda sucks. Sorry 'bout that, but it's a busy summer with a lot of relatives coming and no time to write other than at night, but I'm dead tired by then, so yeah…that's my excuse. Hope you still keep reading and enjoy this rather small chapter. Please review – I like to know what people think of my writing, even if it's a bad comment, so I can improve my writing.

* * *

He pulled the brim of the baseball cap down further as he paid the conductor of the purple, triple-decker bus, hanging onto the closest nailed down object as the bus began to move. He glanced briefly back at Grimmauld Place with a slight pang of guilt at the trouble he could get Sirius in if he was discovered. Like last time, the bus moved at a rate and manner which could be considered almost suicidal; objects such as stop signs and mailboxes jumped out of the way as the bus threatened to flatten said objects. 

To say the least, Harry was glad not to have deposited his breakfast all over the bus by the time it reached his stop.

"Diagon Alley!" Stan Shunpike announced cheerfully, clearly unaffected by the almost suicidal method of steering that the bus driver seemed to like.

"Thank you for riding the Knight Bus!" Shunpike said in that same cheerful voice.

It was so cheerful that Harry fingered his wand, debating the pros and cons of hexing the conductor. On one hand, the much too cheerful conductor deserved it – who wanted to hear such cheerfulness after riding in _that_ thing? On the other hand…the consequences would not be good.

Meaning of course, Hermione would be angry.

Oh, and it was against the law for him to use magic of course.

Walking into the Leaky Cauldron, Harry kept his head down, knowing that even with the baseball cap, he could easily get recognized.

Looking around furtively without seeming too suspicious, Harry made his way away from the more crowded shops and toward an old and battered looking shop that was close to the entrance to Knockturn Alley but not quite there. In fact, all the shops in this particular section of the Alley looked much older and worse off than the ones with all the crowds around them.

"How can I help you?" the clerk in the shop asked looking up. He scowled seeing Harry, "Hey, get out if you're not buying anything"

"I'm buying" Harry said tersely, irritated at being brushed aside so easily and for such a stupid reason like that. The shopkeeper glared at him suspiciously but went back to reading his newspaper. Harry began to look around the shop, glancing at the various trunks it held. He wanted one similar to Mad-eye Moody's, with a compartment so that he, Ron and Hermione did not have to worry about someplace to train in secret.

Not finding what he was looking for, he sighed and turned back to the shopkeeper, "Do you have any trunks with multiple compartments, enough to fit at least three people in it at once comfortably?"

"Yes" the shopkeeper said suspiciously, "But I'm not bringing those out until you show you can pay for something like that – can't have one of you brats running off with my most expensive products"

Harry rolled his eyes and pulled out a purchase he had made in his third year from Gringotts. It was similar to a muggle savings card, in which he could use the card to pay out of his bank account without carrying heavy amounts of gold with him. It was well known fact to all proprietors that the goblins only offered this to their most important clients.

"Will this do?" he asked in annoyance.

The shopkeeper reluctantly got off his stool and grumbling all the while, made his way to the back. He stopped and turned to Harry, "Well, are you coming? I'm not lugging them out there for you – it'd kill my back"

Harry quickly followed the man, catching snippets of the man's mutterings such as 'damn teenagers' and 'making me get up like that'.

"Right, here are the trunks" the man pointed to a row of ten trunks stacked nearly next to one another, "From left to right, each one holds more than the previous one. The first one isn't really one – it's a normal trunk, but with a hidden compartment that can certainly hide a lot of objects safely, but in a way that's similar to a travelling cupboard. You can't fit a person or anything that big in it"

_I beg to differ about _thatHarry thought half in amusement and half sardonically, wondering what the shopkeeper would say if he knew that Harry had spent nearly all his life in a cupboard.

"The others have compartments that are like you said you wanted – the expensive ones have actual room-like structures, like a kitchen, bedroom, the works. Though I don't expect you'll be getting those – "

"That's precisely what I'm looking for" Harry interrupted, "Which one does this one have?" he pointed to the tenth one, realizing how useful this trunk could be if he actually got it.

Not only would they have somewhere to train, it would be useful if he had to go back to the Dursley's next summer. The prospect of not starving because Dudley was on yet _another_ diet was good enough for him.

"That's the best one I have in stock" the shopkeeper grunted in surprise, "A kitchen, five bedrooms, a washroom with a shower and the works, and five other empty rooms to fix to your liking" he stated, "Completely damage-proof with the best security system that can be applied. Can shrink and enlarge with the tap of a wand – no magic involved" he finished, "That to your liking?"

"Yes – I'll take it" Harry handed over the Gringotts bank card.

The shopkeeper quickly shrunk the trunk and wrapped up the trunk for him. Harry grinned as he walked out, feeling more optimistic about his next stay with the Dursleys and the potential training he and his friends were to do.

Hours later, with multiple purchases shrunk with the spell that all shopkeepers in Diagon Alley seemed to know, he made his way to Flourish and Blotts, carefully checking to make sure Moody was not anywhere nearby. The other Order members may not have been able to see through his disguise (a baseball cap to cover his scar and most of his face), but Moody could see through most material (as far as he knew) and he would get caught if Moody saw him.

Browsing through the shelves of the shop, he frowned as he came up with nothing remotely close to anything about elementals. He _did_ find some interesting Defence books and he quickly bought those before his friends and the Order came in.

Stuffing the shrunken books in his pocket, he continued to look around.

He froze when he heard a familiar sets of voices from outside.

"Honestly Ron! Could you have spent _any_ longer in the Quidditch shop?" Hermione's irritated voice asked.

"Yeah. I could've" Ron answered.

Harry grinned as he ducked into a backroom, putting his invisibility cloak on. As the noises of the store faded away, he looked around the room he was in, looking for a back way out of the shop.

_Hermione would love it in here – it's filled with old books. Guess they didn't need some of these titles anymore_…

He snorted in amusement, imagining Hermione's expression when he told her there was a whole backroom in her favourite shop filled with books that had been deemed unnecessary and were just sitting there, collecting dust.

_Hey…what the hell?_

He ran a finger along the spine of a gray, ordinary book that did not look like anything special. However, the title on the spine was enough to catch his interest.

Well, actually. He could not read the title; it was in some sort of strange language that he could not recognize – however, along with those strange letters, were the drawings of a flame, a drop of water, a snowflake and what looked to be a twister.

He had a strong feeling that it had been what he had been looking for.

Taking the book out, he flipped through it carefully.

The entire text was in the same strange language that the title was in. Frowning, he enlarged his newly bought trunk and placed the book in as well as placing a few galleons where he had found it.

Now that he had found a book on elementals, he may as well get out of here.

And hope that Sirius had not discovered him missing.

* * *

Hermione frowned as she looked through the text carefully, flipping through and staring at the characters, "The author was quite careful not to let anyone simply read it – it's written in a mixture of ancient Chinese, ancient Greek, and a lot of old runes that I have never seen before. Well, it would make sense as both languages incorporate elements in some way – elements were incorporated into Chinese folk religion and Greek myths a lot – in a way that other Western and Eastern religion never did as much" 

"So can you translate it?" Ron asked, peering at the strange characters, "I doubt you can find an ancient Chinese to English dictionary or ancient Greek to English dictionary. This looks _old_"

"Of course it is – it was written in _ancient _writing" Hermione stated rolling her eyes, "This will take a long time to translate" she stated.

"But it could lead to the answer we're looking for about our powers" Harry mused.

"Which is why I'll get started on it straight away – meanwhile, you and Ron get those potions ingredients you bought and get the ingredients ready for that potion"

"Yeah, yeah…I hate potions" Ron grumbled.

"Get to it if you want to do magic undetected" Hermione snapped.

"Alright, alright, I'm going" Ron rolled his eyes, "At least Sirius didn't catch you, right Harry?" he asked with a grin as they pulled a case from the Apothecary out of the trunk.

"Yeah, good thing" Harry grinned in agreement.

* * *

Yeah, it was one of those 'Harry goes shopping for powerful things' chapters. But the book he found it really important to the plot, of course, and the trunk will come in really useful...and the Gringotts card symbolizes how it's not just this year that he's started becoming independent but has always been, differing from canon Harry...so that's the point of this chapter, i guess... 

and the Chinese, Greek and the elements thing - completely made up from the brief research I did. From what I know, the only religions I've read a lot about with an emphasis on the elements are the Greeks with Zeus and the lightning bolt thing, and the Chinese and their thunder gods...so yeah...

Please review.


	4. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Author's Note!!!!

To the readers of this story,

I apologize, but I can no longer continue this story due to a lack of time available to write. This year, I've started university and the workload is immense and just to finish the readings necessary for the next class, I get about four hours of sleep a night. Therefore, there is basically no time to spare for this story. I apologize…

However, the original author (outkast angel) and I would like it if this story could be continued, so anyone who is interested in writing this story, please review and I'll contact you when I find time to, or you could always contact outkast angel. Either way works. If you wish to contact outkast angel, there is a link in my profile page.

Thanks for understanding,

-Lain


End file.
